US defense secretary furious at Iran for filming surrender of American sailors

US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter says Iran’s videotaping of American sailors surrendering in the Persian Gulf earlier this month made him deeply angry.

By: AP and World Israel News Staff

US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said he is “very, very angry” that Iran videotaped American sailors surrendering aboard their boats in the Persian Gulf earlier this month.

Earlier this month, Iran released 10 US sailors it had detained after they drifted with their boats into Iranian territorial waters in the Persian Gulf.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) issued a statement upon the release, saying that its investigations indicated that the sailors had gone astray and that their sail into Iranian waters was not an act of aggression.

“Following technical and operational investigations and in interaction with relevant political and national security bodies of the country and after it became clear that the US combat vessels’ illegal entry into the Islamic Republic of Iran’s waters was the result of an unpurposeful action and a mistake, and after they extended an apology, the decision was made to release them. The Americans have undertaken not to repeat such mistakes,” the statement said.

In the video, the 10 Americans were on their knees with their hands on the heads as Iranian troops took them and their boats into custody. If the circumstances were reversed, Carter said, US forces would not have videotaped captured Iranian sailors.

He added that he has no reason to think the American sailors acted inappropriately. In fact, one of them admitted on camera that the boats had strayed into Iranian waters, and he apologized for that.